Great suggestions! Or the royals could foot the bill for security too. Why not? They are cushioned from the harsh economic realities that the public have to suffer, through no fault of our own. And since most people in Britain are struggling to maintain their standard of living these days and fearing job losses and social welfare cutbacks, they are for the most part not actually very interested in this wedding. For the most part it seems like an awful waste of money.

It's not as if the taxpayer would get any of the money back that could be saved on this wedding - it's spent somewhere else and not necessarily on hospitals or other institutions that the taxpayer benefits from... The security staff (police etc.) is in public employment anyway, so why bother that much? There is so much money spent on travels of minor government minions, on occasions only very few if any "taxpayers" are attending - so why not invest in a weddng that at least will gve all little girls in Britain (and a lot of moms and grannies, too!) something to enjoy and dream of.
The taxes are payed anywhy, so why not spend them on a public festive event like a Royal wedding?

How cool this is! I'm in London until April 29th so I'm going to see at least a bit of it =) Does anyone already know the exactly time? Is it rather in the evening or earlier? I hope I won't be sitting already on the plane...

This is an exciting time for the Queen as well. Seeing one grandson get married in April 2011 and becoming a great grandmother next month in Dec 2010 when Peter and his wife Autumn have their first child!!

The cost for 4000 policemen in Sweden on June 19 were 2 million dollar in overtimecost(easy to count as the dollar stands 7-1 against the krona at the moment). So the cost for the security dont have to be THAT big. Off course London is bigger and the UK is bigger, but the cost for the police will "only" be around 3-4 million dollar tops.

Any troops from the RAF, RN or the BA will be covered under the defencebudget for next year.

It will be a big boos for the hotells and restaurants in London even if no foregin tourists come.

If you want to save money for the UK goverment, dont loan Ireland cas

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-------------------------------------------------"My feelings are all over the place." Prince Daniel express his feelings after announcing the birth of his daughter Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary

Great suggestions! Or the royals could foot the bill for security too. Why not? They are cushioned from the harsh economic realities that the public have to suffer, through no fault of our own. And since most people in Britain are struggling to maintain their standard of living these days and fearing job losses and social welfare cutbacks, they are for the most part not actually very interested in this wedding. For the most part it seems like an awful waste of money.

I hate to bring out a slightly controversial analogy here, but would all those concerned about the cost of security for the royal wedding have similar views for a royal funeral, say that of Diana's?

Crap a Friday ugh that means I need to plan my courses for next semester around this wedding ugh now I need to have Friday off. Not only that I'll prob be pulling an all nighter if they air it live here cause I'll be up early not sleep most of the day and then at night go out to a concert.

I think you make a great point. If Will and Kate decided to have a private family ceremony at Windsor or Balmoral, you would hear howls of protest from the public and they'd be called snooty etc. and then be derided for taking public funds but not putting on a good show.

So any suggestions on how not to put the bill on the taxpayer? Maybe the wedding should be private and then the couple and the Palace should just issue a series of wedding pictures to the public? Or how about that all monies from souvenir sales should be used to pay for the security?

They could hold a national lottery with tickets to the wedding as prize (!!). With the population of the UK at ~60 million, they only would need 1 out of every 6 people to buy a single £2 ticket to cover the security expense.

If they opened the lottery up to include posters here on TRF, they could probably MAKE money!!

For all the hoopla about being mindful of the economic situation, you have to figure that the reception will be private and they can go all out for that. Unlike most girls who get their one moment in the limelight on the day of their wedding, Kate will experience that over and over throughout her life. Every gala event and royal occasion is an excuse to get dressed up and bejeweled, so she can afford to make the wedding a 'simpler' event without feeling like she is giving up on her special day.

But does ithave significance for them? They are Anglicans, not Roman Catholics.

As far as I know ther Anglicans are the protestants who are the most close to the Catholic rituals. So St. Catherine of Siena might have a positive meaning there as well. (Well, I like her because I was named after her myself...)